By the 1970s Arab states were politically diverging despite cultural affinity

Evidence

It may well be that at some future time, with the growth of cultural links, communications and the trend towards the formation of larger entities, the Arab countries may come together in larger political formations. But for the time being the trend is in the opposite direction. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 937

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with pan-Arabist accounts of the same moment; useful counterweight in the Islam-West representation cluster.